


A New Leaf

by ehmazing



Category: Mononoke-hime | Princess Mononoke, Tonari no Totoro | My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-03
Updated: 2011-02-03
Packaged: 2017-10-15 08:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/159074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ehmazing/pseuds/ehmazing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My Neighbor Totoro/Princess Mononoke crossover. After the death of the Forest Spirit, the Totoro Clan worries about the future, makes an alliance, and saves the forest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Leaf

He remembers the time when their clan numbered thousands, the time when there were only the spirits living amongst the trees.

Now, the Forest Spirit is dead.

Now, there is only he, Second Sister, and Little Brother. Now, there is an ever-growing number of beasts, and the trees number fewer and fewer.

 _So many are leaving. What will we do, Brother?_

 _We will make the forest grow, as we always have._

–

After the Sparrow Clan leaves, wailing with each beat of their wings, doubt weighs heavy in his heart. Since the beginning, the Sparrows had planted the seeds, and the Totoro had given them life. Without one, the other could not exist.

They give special care to the younger trees as they make their rounds, making sure to bring them up thick and strong. He wonders what they will do when they can find no more seeds. What will happen, when the youngest generation grows old with no replacement?

He instructs his siblings to treat the trees well, ignoring the ominous bare ground beginning to show through.

–

The new beasts are putrid, reeking of smoke and blood. Little Brother cowers, nose burning from the stench.

 _Why are they here?_

 _They are greedy beings,_ Second Sister snarls. _They care for none but their own race. Why else would they steal out forest?_

 _It is best not to judge what you do not know, Sister,_ he says, and she lowers her eyes in embarrassment. Still, they change their route, avoiding the new beasts and their bad smell.

–

He knew it was inevitable, and yet when he finds the first patch of lifeless soil, he cannot help but mourn.

–

One night, he sends Second Sister and Little Brother off on the shorter course while he treads the long one alone. It doesn’t make much of a difference; all of their paths have been cut in half by the lack of seeds. He wonders if they should leave, like the Sparrows, and go to a new forest. Could they find the courage? The clan has lived in this region for as long as it has existed. It is practically shameful to think of abandoning the trees his ancestors had tended to.

He's going back and forth in his head, wondering what to do, when he hears a small cry. Pausing, he inhales deeply, tasting the night air. Oaks, maples, ferns, three rabbits, an owl–iron. The iron of blood.

A human, here, in the forest.

He makes to turn back and go the way he came, hoping to avoid confrontation. The Totoro have never made contact with the humans before, and he plans to keep it that way. But the cry comes again, louder this time. It isn’t a battle yell, but an injured sound.

A human, alone and hurt.

He walks towards the scent, already beginning to regret his choice.

–

For all the noise it could make, the creature is much tinier than he had pictured. Only a sapling taller than Second Sister, it’s curled in a ball on the forest floor, head buried in its limbs like a turtle without a shell. It is hairless but for the crown of its head, and quite ugly. Its paws are flat and bony and its legs are bulging in the joints.

These are the monsters that killed the mightiest of all gods?

It hasn’t noticed him yet. The crying noise continues, interjected with shaky breaths. Finally, when he can stand the annoyance no longer, he gently brushes its shoulder.

The human finally lifts its head; it is the most miserable-looking creature he has ever seen. A flat snout and puny teeth wrinkle beneath squinty eyes and a high forehead, and it falls out of its crouch at once, sprawled amid the dirt and leaves in surprise.

 _Are you lost?_

The creature stands on spindly feet and peers at him for a moment, before reaching slowly forward to brush his outstretched paw. Its eyes are wide, little mouth open in wonder. It’s almost cute, in a pathetic way. He lets it wrap its fingers around one of his claws.

 _Come, little one. This is a dangerous place. I’ll take you home._

–

They are greeted with torches and spears.

A group of males surround him at once, holding the fire so close that it singes his whiskers. He growls, baring his teeth, and they back away, but just far enough so that any move can kill him. The young human runs from his side before he can shield it.

“Papa!”

It flings itself upon one of the men, who cradles it in his arms, overjoyed. The spears are lowered as the group is distracted with the reunion, shouting and waving the torches over their heads in celebration. Seeing he has been forgotten, he sneaks away, heading for the cover of the trees.

“Wait!”

The child’s father approaches him slowly, as his offspring drags him forward by one hand.

“Papa, this is my friend, Totoro!”

The man looks at him warily, but then he drops to his knees, pressing his forehead to the ground.

“You have brought my daughter back unharmed. Thank you, Spirit. How may we repay you?”

At first, he doesn’t know how to respond. A human, indebted to a god?

 _I would like you and your people to leave._

The man stares, shocked, but then he gathers his thoughts and bows.

“If that is what you insist, Spirit. Give us one week, and I will gather my village–”

 _I would like you and your people to leave, but that is not my demand. You see, the forest belongs to no god or demon or beast. I can lay no claim on it. The forest shelters all of us, no matter our clan or our tribe._

He pats the little girl’s head gently.

 _So, human, I have only one thing to ask of you. I would like to make an alliance with you and your children, and your children’s children, and the children of every generation onward._

 _I would like us to live together in peace, as neighbors._

–

The human girl waves to him from atop her father's shoulders as he leaves, clutching the satchel full of acorns under her arm.

–

Little Brother wades through the grass, his ears barely higher than the shoots.

 _Another one!_

The acorn erupts in roots when he pulls, burying deep into the ground. The leave unfurl as the shoot climbs upward, eager to greet the sunlight. They move down the path.

 _And another!_ Second Sister hops joyfully, her footsteps waking maples and birches. He laughs as his siblings leap over the growing trunks and sing as the canopy stretches over their heads.

He finds a small offering of flowers and berries surrounded by a circle of buried apple seeds. Three clay flutes sit upon a bed of grass, decorated with pictures of creatures with tall ears and round bellies. He places one to his mouth and tries a tune; the melody is soft and sweet like birdsong.

He plays a song that has been in his clan for millennia, a song about the moon and the wind and the trees. But he changes the melody for the Swallows, and creates a new tune. A tune for his neighbors to sleep to, under the shield of the forest. A tune for his neighbors, welcoming them home.

The Totoro dance through the cool night air, saplings springing up in their wake.


End file.
